


Welcome to the Underground

by Tabithian



Series: Light the Path [9]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 07:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4470812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabithian/pseuds/Tabithian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's an assassin in the Batcave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to the Underground

**Author's Note:**

> Anon asked about tZ, Owens, and Pru, and also Tim's spleen and the whatnot, so. You know. *hands*

There's an assassin in the Batcave.

Dick hears Damian's low growl a moment before he darts forward. 

Jason looks to where Damian's headed and makes a face, mutters a resigned, “Goddammit,” as he reaches out a hand to snag the trailing end of Damian's cape and reins him in.

“Whoa, hold on, there Demon Brat. Tim's got this one.”

Because Tim beat them back to the Batcave, bit of a taunt in his voice over the comms and now.

Now Tim is facing off against the assassin, this little smirk on his face that's so painfully familiar. (Tim used to look like that when the two of them would spar, _before _.)__

__For all that Tim's been back in Gotham ( _been back_ ) for some time, Dick's really only seen him fight a handful of times. As Red Hood before they knew who he was, and after, when their paths would cross during patrols or some case or another. _ _

__(When he took Jason and _left_ , knife at Dick's throat.)_ _

__So yes, Dick's only seen him fight a handful of times, but Tim is._ _

__He's good, was always good, even though he never really seemed to believe it when people told him that._ _

__But now._ _

__“Don't even think about it, brat,” Jason says, still holding on to the end of Damian's cape. “He has this.”_ _

__Dick glances at Jason, who looks back, eyebrow raised, and Dick._ _

__Dick takes his cue from him, drops a hand on Damian's shoulder. “Listen to Jay,” he says, grins a little at the _look_ Damian gives him._ _

__“She's one of my Grandfather's assassins,” he says, almost a hiss._ _

__That's why she looks familiar, Dick realizes. Remembers seeing her when Tim and Jason had returned to Gotham, racing the clock because _Ra's_._ _

__Tim looks up at them then, smirk kicking up a notch -_ _

__And the assassin makes her move, overhead lights catching on the guns in her hands, and -_ _

__Tim moves, a sharp little motion Dick doesn't remember seeing him use before._ _

__Jason winces at the crunch that follows, the assassin's guns clattering to the ground, forgotten._ _

__“Fuck!”_ _

__Tim _stops_ , takes a step forward and says, “Dammit, Pru, let me see.”_ _

__The assassin drops her hand, blood dripping down her face. “You're an asshole,” she says, tips her head up to let Tim get a better look at the damage._ _

__Tim laughs, fingers oh so careful on her face. “You keep saying things like that and I'm going to get my feelings hurt.”_ _

__The assassin – Pru? - glares at him, but Dick swears there's a hint of a smile on her face._ _

__Damian's still glaring at her, teeth grinding together as he seethes. Jason's looking far too amused at whatever is going on, and Dick._ _

__He'd really like to know what's going on here._ _

__“Okay, what is going on here?” Dick asks, pulling the cowl down._ _

__Bruce is off doing who knows what right now, which means Dick gets to be him – or a version of him – for the time being. Jason and Tim are working together to cover their patrol routes while Damian works with him, and -_ _

__“Dumbass over there needs to start wearing a face mask, that's what,” Jason says, and finally, finally lets go of Damian's cape._ _

__“Shut it, Todd,” the assassin snaps._ _

__Jason bares his teeth._ _

__“Make me,” he says, oh so mature._ _

__“Come over here and I will, you bastard.”_ _

__“Pru.”_ _

__Tim._ _

__Quiet, amused._ _

__Pru switches her glare from Jason to Tim, crosses her arms. “Should have killed you both when we had the chance.”_ _

__What._ _

__“Yeah, probably,” Tim says, and he's _smiling_ , shooting a look at Jason that has him laughing too. _ _

__“No, seriously,” Dick says. “What is going on?”_ _

__Also._ _

__“Wait, we?”_ _

__“Did he break your nose again?”_ _

__Dick._ _

__“Jesus, _no_ , Damian,” Jason says, long-suffering as he grabs Damian by the hood before he can launch himself at the figures coming down into the cave after Alfred. _ _

__One of them is helping him with a tray of food, the other waves a medical kit at Pru with a smirk on his face._ _

__“Kid's got a point, Pru. You're taking a few too many hits to the face.”_ _

__“Shut up, Owens,” she says, sliding a look at Tim, who drops his hands and steps back, still smiling._ _

__********_ _

__Tim takes his time, doesn't he, taking care of Pru's broken nose while Jason talks._ _

__Damian is sitting at the edge of their little group, watching the three assassins with narrowed eyes and a scowl, eyes darting to Tim every so often._ _

__Jason._ _

__Jason is telling them all about what happened when the Tim and Jason left Gotham to look for Bruce._ _

__Madrid, Paris, Berlin, and all the other cities in between and after._ _

__Ra's, and now that whole mess makes a little more sense._ _

__Tim._ _

__It's not quite a flinch when Jason brings up the Council of Spiders, but with him it's close enough._ _

__Pru sees it, scowls and punches Tim on the shoulder. “Idiot,” she says, low, angry._ _

__Tim looks up at her, says, absolutely certain, “If Jason hadn't been with us, we would have died there and it would have been my fault.”_ _

__Pru opens her mouth to say something, but Z speaks up, says her name, and she snaps her mouth shut and looks away._ _

__Z._ _

__He's been watching Tim the whole time, thoughtful expression on his face, and Dick would love to know what that's about. What Jason isn't telling them, because this._ _

__Three of Ra's al Ghul's assassins dropping by like this. Not exactly the norm, even for them._ _

__“Oh, hey,” Owens says, into the heavy silence, looking over at Tim. “How's life without your spleen? I mean. You never write, you never call. We worry, you know?”_ _

__Tim winces, glares at Owens who's smirking, so very pleased with himself._ _

__Looks to Dick, wary._ _

__“It was my spleen or Jason's head, Dick.” Tim says, fingers tapping nervously on his leg. Tries out a smile that only hurts a little to look at.“I figured I could live without my spleen, you know? I mean, really. What does it even do?”_ _

__And that's._ _

__Dick _looks_ at Tim, who just looks right back. So damn certain of his choices when it's something like that. _ _

__“Your spleen, though,” Dick says._ _

__Squints at Tim._ _

__“Are you missing any other internal organs I should know about?”_ _

__He means it as a joke, really, but _Tim_._ _

__Tim is actually thinking about it._ _

__“Oh my God, Tim.”_ _

__Tim grins, this sly little thing that's so rare with him it's honestly a shock when Dick sees it._ _

__“Well,” Tim says, shrugs. “There was my appendix when I was about five? Does that count?”_ _

__Jason and Pru snort out a laugh at the same time, only to glare at one another in the next moment, and that's another story Dick would love to hear all about._ _

__“Still such an asshole,” Pru says, and it's weirdly fond._ _

__********_ _

__Pru is trying to goad Damian into sparring with her, while Jason and her team place bets, Alfred looking on._ _

__“He's going to go for her nose,” Tim says in an undertone, because he knows as well as Dick does that she won't need to work very hard to get Damian on the mats with her._ _

__Dick glances at him, feels the corner of his mouth tug up. “You think?”_ _

__From what Jason told them, it's all people seem to do when they're fighting Pru._ _

__Tim gives him a considering look, _smirks_. _ _

__“Sucker's bet,” they say at the same time, just as Damian snarls and throws himself at Pru._ _

Jason and Owens start up a chant, a steady _fight, fight, fight_ that has Z shaking his head, Alfred quirking an eyebrow, and Tim. 

__Tim is _smiling_._ _

__Dick knows there's more to the story. Knows there's no way Jason told them everything, but he thinks he can live with the mystery a little longer._ _


End file.
